Citizenship and Immigration committee  It's absolutely true that we need to have a system that makes good and fair decisions promptly. This will address any number of issues, including cost.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Undoubtedly you're working very hard.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Our abandonment rates are not as high as 95%. Among citizens of the European Union who actually get before a tribunal, acceptance rates have been running around 20%. That is lower than other groups, but not insignificant. Without actual evidence about why people are making decisions, we cannot draw a conclusion one way or another.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  If you're a citizen of a European country, you're allowed to cross the border and enter another country, but there's no provision to get protection in that country. The European accord on the common asylum system prohibits the extension of refugee protection to EU national citizens.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  There are a number of things that contribute to people abandoning claims. We quite often hear from refugee lawyers in Canada that claims are sometimes abandoned because people receive very poor advice from unscrupulous community members or consultants. There are conditions under which people who genuinely fear persecution will return to their home country.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Good morning, and thank you for the invitation to speak with you this morning about Bill C-31. I have been doing research into immigration law in Canada and Australia for nearly 20 years now. I teach refugee law in both countries. This morning, I am going to talk about the mandatory detention system that is in effect in Australia.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  This is a good example of how information working in one category flows over into another category. We currently have reasonable capacity to pre-screen individuals who are coming to Canada in some acceptable category of immigration. However, we don't grant visas to people to come to Canada to seek refugee status.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you for your time and attention. It's been a privilege.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think the clearest example here is probably what happens in Australia. In Australia there are quite a lot of irregular arrivals, and in much greater numbers than in Canada because of the structure of the Australian immigration system. There are two primary devices used, even in the context of the Australian system, to ensure that people are detained for the minimal amount of time required.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The best and most detailed study is by the Australian Human Rights Commission, which has demonstrated that there are devastating effects on children held long term in migration detention. One of the changes between Bill C-4 and Bill C-31 is that the new legislation does not call for mandatory detention of children.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Anybody who is crossing at an organized port of entry is probably coming legally or they'll be turned back at that point, so I guess your question is about clandestine border crossings...?

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Okay. That's helpful. I think a lot of countries around the world have gone to some sort of biometric screening. The real issue that concerns me there is what we do with that data once we get it. I think Canada has done an excellent job of reducing its clandestine population.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  In the interests of time, I think the Maher Arar report is directly on the point of how we decide which information to exchange about. Now, keep in mind that entry and exit information will predominantly be information about people who already have a right to live in Canada—Canadian citizens and permanent residents.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think the question of entry-exit data exchange is one that needs to be dealt with very carefully. I think it's important to develop a regulatory framework to ensure that data collected for the purposes of entering the country are not put into a generally accessible databank. I think that comes very close to the line of infringing upon individuals' privacy rights, and it's not clear what benefits will derive from the system, aside from having a massive pool of data for which the uses are really not clear.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Both international law and the Supreme Court of Canada have made it very clear that if people are going to be detained in an administrative context, that is, if we're detaining people who have not been tried or convicted of anything at all, that detention needs to be narrowly targeted and needs to have close time limits.